Category Archives: Weekend Hodgepodge

I sit here swigging on green tea and Gatorade, recovering after a weekend making sure the little ones in my Girl Scout troops were drinking enough water, yet forgetting to drink enough myself. Despite neglecting to properly hydrate, I had a fantastic weekend at Camp Hidden Falls with 5 Daisies, 5 Brownies, 8 Juniors, and 8 Seniors. It was bright, sunny, and warm, with minimal tears or injuries.

Camp Hidden Falls

The first night, just the Seniors came along. They quickly found their favorite hangout location on this dock at Sunset Lake.

Our first night’s accommodations were in a nice cabin just past the lake. We slept in these bunks. I got the top bunk, allowing me to feel tall for once in my life! We spent the evening snacking, talking, tie dying, playing games and making crafts- A laid back night before the arrival of the younger girls Saturday morning.

Saturday morning, we took a nice hike to the ranger’s station to pick up the young girls as they got dropped off at camp. Ferns are one of my favorite woodland landscape elements.

This turtle ducked his head in just as we passed by.

While we waited for the rest of the girls to arrive, the punctual scouts visited Hidden Falls, a quaint bridal veil waterfall not far from the camp entrance.

Near the falls, we saw these dandelion-like flowers with pretty rust colored edges.

We hauled our gear to the Lake View tent site, where all of the girls would spend Saturday night.

The latrines were unlike what I was used to- Behind each large door was two seats with a partial divider wall … Awkward.

After a quick lunch and a discussion of Leave No Trace principles, we hiked out to Buttermilk Falls, completing a scavenger hunt along the way.

The girls had a great time exploring the falls, stream, and surrounding woodland.

The girls saw lots of critters, including toads, snakes, racoons, and millipedes. Fortunately, despite the presence of bears in camp, we didn’t cross paths with any of them.

These irises grew along the path back to our unit.

After the hike, the girls made Sharpie tie dyed bandana (Sharpie markers & rubbing alcohol) and played this game the Seniors developed. After rolling dice to move along the game board, the girls had to find a corresponding number card hidden in the surrounding area.

A symbol on the back of the number told the Seniors which task to have the girls perform before moving on. Tasks included creating dolls out of natural objects (pictured here), making toilet paper dresses, solving puzzles, hula hooping, etc.

While the girls played their game, I took a moment to check out the lake shore, and discovered these gorgeous Columbine blooms.

After playing games, the girls got to work preparing dinner. The Juniors built the fire and made soup, the Daisies made baked potatoes, the Brownies made salad, and the Seniors made spinach and rice casserole.

Pot of Gold Soup was tomato soup, loaded with nuggets of cheese wrapped in biscuit dough.

The dutch oven casserole contained spinach, mushrooms, rice, cheese, and eggs. It was a big hit!

By the time we finished dinner, the sun had set, so we washed our dishes by flashlight and toasted marshmallows for smores before loading “smelly” items into the bear box and putting the younger girls to bed. Then, once the young ones were sound asleep, myself and another leader took the Seniors to the dock for some midnight stargazing. We saw shooting stars!

Sunday morning, the girls had “Jungle Breakfast” (where their bag of cereal and fruit is hidden in the woods), and we said goodbye to the beautiful lake. By 11am, we headed home to check for ticks, shower, nap, rehydrate, and get ready for the week (and another camping trip next weekend!)

Whoo … I am wiped out from this weekend. It was three days of straight celebration between Commencement where I work and Mothers’ Day. There are much worse ways to spend a weekend than celebrating, but non-stop for three days gets to be tiring!

I’m starting this Weekend Hodgepodge post with lunch break on Friday—The Greek Food Festival at St. Nicholas’ in Bethlehem! Twice a year, this church pulls out all the stops and cooks up Greek specialties en masse. For $10, I got two meals worth of stuffed peppers, green beans, orzo, salad, and bread. [Secret: If you go the last day, in the last 15 minutes, everything is half price]

Friday night, Moravian Seminary Commencement activities began, and I attended to carry out my responsibilities as event photographer and wish the students well. Just after work, the whole MTS community gathered for a communion service, followed by a banquet.

Esteemed banquet guest Billy Bob Zinzendorf made his annual appearance at the banquet, providing a humorous review of the year. (For those concerned, Billy Bob DID sign a photo release, haha.)

After grazing at the banquet, I ducked out to pick up Kevin and head to a friends’ home for dinner function #2—Takeout from Prince Palace Dumpling House! I forgot to take a picture of the spread, but it was delicious and seemingly endless.

Saturday morning I woke up with the determination to run a solid 4 miles for the first time. I ended up walking a portion of the last mile (why, oh why, did I put the Elizabeth Avenue hill at the end of my route???), but I did it!

This is my cat doing a pretty accurate imitation of how I looked when I got back from the run.

After chugging some water and chowing down on some kohlrabi, I traded my running shoes for heels and dove back into Commencement activities. My co-workers and I set up a reception, then dashed downtown to take part in the ceremony. Academia is so funny …

After the ceremony, our building flooded with people (One student had a CHARTER BUS of supporters. How cool!) for a reception.

I kept my nibbling at the reception to a minimum because I knew that Kevin was at home preparing homemade lasagna with freshly made ricotta and his own pasta.

For dessert, we pigged out on these ice cream sundaes. Yes, that is artificially colored mint chip ice cream and whipped cream from a can. It was utterly disappointing. However, the chocolate raw milk with whipped cream vodka was NOT disappointing.

Sunday morning, I woke up early enough to snap this photo of the pretty flowers I planted before our slew of rabbits ate the blossoms off again.

Two of my sisters and I took our mother to Sette Luna (review coming soon!) in Easton for brunch. After a bit of a wait, despite our reservation, the food was well worth it! I enjoyed this pizza topped with smoked salmon, ricotta, red onion, capers, and lemon. As my father noticed, “It’s like a twist on lox on a bagel!”

For my mother- and grandmother-in-law, we picked up some take out Mexican from Fiesta Olé (a favorite of my mother-in-law), then went out for dessert at the Melting Pot, where we enjoyed this Yin & Yang fondue and Flaming Turtle fondue.

After arriving back home, I popped a chicken in the oven to roast for dinners this week and set out to catch up on some of my work backlog. Now, I think it’s time to hit the hay.

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After a ridiculously busy (planned) and pretty wretched (not planned) week, I was really looking forward to a fun weekend. Highlights of last week included my car being subject to a hit-and-run while it was parked at work, my camera being stolen, and my ice cream sandwich disappearing from the work freezer. On a positive note, I found out my co-chair and I were awarded scholarships to the CCMA conference for cooperative businesses in Philadelphia this June!

Friday night, I darted to Best Buy after work (where I was surprised to receive really poor customer service- usually they jump on you right as you walk in the door, but this crew didn’t want to even be bothered to make a sale) to purchase a new camera. While it charged overnight, I went to my co-leader’s house for a Girl Scout sleepover (although I didn’t stay the night) with the high school troop. They had a good time making jewelry and eating brownies.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early, anticipating the highlight of the whole weekend- The Dirty Girl Mud Run!

I ran the 5K obstacle course (in the mud) with my sister-in-law, mother-in-law, and friend. Since the event was to benefit breast cancer research, we thought an appropriate team name would be “The Fembots,” a la Austin Powers.

Walking into the race area, we got a preview of the last obstacle- An enormous mud pit! Other obstacles included a 10ft wall climb, 20-30ft cargo net climb, mud up to my waist, rappelling down hillsides, and crawling through muddy tunnels.

Every 15 minutes, a wave began, totaling 8000 women running.

After an exhilarating run through the course, we tossed our mud caked sneakers into the donation pile and headed to the hose-off tent.

We were covered in mud and in high spirits after the run. We celebrated with a group fist pump before cashing in our free beer tickets.

After dashing back to Bethlehem, I jumped in the shower and went to catch the end of my professor and mentor’s Cinco De Mayo retirement party. I rushed in just in time to hear the toasts.

Sunday morning, I picked up some Jumbars breakfast to go and went to my old stomping grounds in Moravian’s art department to help my former professor pack and sort her old office items. An artist’s office is always full of the most fascinating objects.

Sunday afternoon, I set to work preparing some quick to reheat meals for dinners this week, including this dandelion & potato soup.

I also made a spinach, ham, and mushroom quiche.

I also made this spring pizza for our Sunday dinner, topped with pesto, potatoes, duck eggs, wild garlic, arugula, and fromage blanc. It was delightful! The recipe will be posted this week, just in time for Mother’s Day brunch!

So, all in all, the weekend made up for a lousy preceding week. Here’s to better weekdays to come!

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Whoo … I am still sleepy from this weekend! It was a great couple of days, full of awesome people, adventures, and productivity.

On Friday after work, I enjoyed basking in the warm sunshine with a couple of co-op friends on a rooftop deck. Porch sitting is one of my favorite warm weather activities, made infinitely better with cool people and fresh fruit!

Later that evening, some other friends and I walked downtown to share a pitcher of sangria at Tapas on Main. My best friend Emily and her partner, Jenn, hammed it up for the camera.

After a fantastic evening with friends, I came home to relax and get to bed early so I could wake up early for a busy Saturday. Unfortunately, my plans for a restful night were not so successful, as my husband was night fishing in his canoe on Lake Nockamixon, which always leaves my over-anxious mind turning until he comes home. He finally came home around 1am, only to turn around and leave again to try to find his missing hat and fishing license. He didn’t find the hat, and we didn’t get to bed until about 4:30am.

Saturday morning, I was still up bright and early to go to Applebees, where my high school Girl Scout troop served a pancake breakfast as a fundraiser. They worked hard, but the effort was worth it in the end!

Following the fundraiser, and after fueling up on caffeine, my co-leader and I took a few of the girls up to the Appalachian Trail for a hike to Bake Oven Knob. The girls had a good time pretending to "rescue" each other from the side of the rocks.

Despite the copious amounts of graffiti, the views from Bake Oven Knob are always excellent. Even better are the views from the Bear Rocks, where we hoped to hike to, but postponed due to the threat of thunderstorms.

As I returned to Bethlehem, the clouds were growing thicker, so my husband and I raced the rain drops to walk to this new Mexican restaurant in our neighborhood.

The food was great- Fresh and authentic. I wound down the day, listening to the rain and enjoying these chicken tacos, topped with cilantro, onions, and lime juice.

Sunday morning was dreary, with a threat of strong (much needed) rain. We picked up some breakfast from Jumbars. Oatmeal with fresh fruit was the perfect choice for the cool and cloudy morning.

Since the rain cancelled our plans to go skeet shooting, I curled up with a blanket and planned the rest of the Girl Scout year for the Brownie troop. I also buckled down and got some freelance design work done and tried not to let the melancholy weather get under my skin too much.

Sunday night wrapped up with homemade Italian meatloaf and pesto-roasted veggies. We hit the hay for an early night to try and catch up on sleep. I'm still catching up now!

I didn’t get to write this Sunday night for Monday posting because I told my husband I wouldn’t go online all day Sunday in honor of his birthday (which is actually today). You see, Kevin is not a huge internet fan, especially when it comes to social media. He’s totally supportive of my blog, but it made him smile to know he’d have me all to himself on Sunday, when we celebrated his birthday.

Pulling the pictures for this post, I realized that it looks like all I did this weekend was eat. I swear I did more than that!

Friday evening we picked up some Chinese takeout from Eastern Palace to eat while we watched Fresh on Netflix. I got this mei fun, which I am still working my way through! It was huge!

Saturday morning, I picked up a fellow co-operator and drove to the Lehigh Valley Zoo for the Farm Fest, where the Bethlehem Food Co-Op had its community event debut! We spent the morning talking to enthusiastic community members, handing out brochures, selling some merchandise, and having people fill out member profiles and feasibility studies.

On the way back from the zoo, we stopped at the drool inducing Tex's Smokin' BBQ on Rt 309. The only advertising this authentic Texas BBQ truck needs is the smell as you approach it. Our co-op t-shirts did their job nicely, too, inspiring several comments and questions!

Tober was very interested in my pork sandwich.

After working my shift at the zoo, I had picked up some items from farmers who were there, including some plants for our garden. A bunny chewed the flowers off the pretty colorful plant right after it went in the ground, but new blooms are sure to come soon! We planted parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano and kale. The rest of our veggies will come from our CSA.

After helping plant the garden, Kevin went fishing with a friend. I worked on some freelance projects, then, when they returned, we grilled some burgers, kale, and potatoes for dinner. Grilled kale is EXCELLENT.

Sunday was Kevin's birthday (observed), so he got to pick whatever he'd like to do for the day. I made these ham, egg, & potato crepes to start the day off.

We lounged around for the morning, then got Primo Hoagies for lunch. Mine had eggplant, roasted red peppers and broccoli rabe.

Surprisingly, Kevin changed his mind from the original plan of fishing all day, and we went to see Titanic in IMAX 3D instead. Man, that movie is way sadder on a huge screen.

After the movie, we picked up some pho for dinner. This stuff is like an all powerful elixir.

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This weekend, I actually spent a fair amount of time out of the Lehigh Valley, both in NYC and in the Pocono Mountains. I took a vacation day on Friday, so my weekend actually began Thursday night.

Thursday evening, I joined about 20 other people from the Moravian College community for an homage to Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party." We each created a place setting in honor of a women of our choice (I chose Juliette Low, the founder of Girl Scouts). We all shared dinner and presented our place setting and brief biographies of the women.

Just after I arrived home from the Judy Chicago event, I found out this blog won "best neighborhood blog" in the My Choice, My Voice contest. To celebrate, we picked up a pint of Ben & Jerry's and enjoyed a nice, stiff drink.

Friday morning, we were up bright and early to catch a bus with the art department to New York City. We spent the first part of the day visiting with my sister and geocaching in Central Park.

For lunch, we stopped by the cozy J.G. Melon to try one of their famous burgers. They lived up to the reputation- Juicy and flavorful.

After lunch, we walked back to Central Park to find a couple more geocaches. This musician was taking advantage of the archway acoustics to practice.

In our meandering around the upper east side, we came across some really ornate architectural details, like this fence.

After lunch, we headed to the Whitney Museum to see the Biennial exhibit. This wasn't my favorite Biennial ever, but there were several works I really enjoyed.

This artist was doing a sort of performance art/social experiment, having moved her entire studio into the Whitney. She works in her studio for 8 hours per day, living in front of the museum visitors.

This arrangement reminded me of a Tim Burton sort of composition. I liked the use of space and the wiry feel of the birds.

After the Whitney Biennial, we trekked back up to 80th St. to visit Eli's, a great food store with all sorts of specialty items and fantastic breads.

We quickly gathered a few purchases before catching the bus back to Bethlehem. We picked up some erryngi mushrooms, fresh squeezed juice, challah bread, and a chocolate croissant (to snack on during the trip home!).

After the bus dropped us off, we picked up some food from Thai Thai II and relaxed after all of the running around we had done.

Saturday was the first day in quite a while that I didn't have something major planned. I visited one of my Girl Scout's mothers to help her set up a blog, then drove out to Padula Potatoes to pick up my last bag for the season. I took some to my friend's home and ended up chatting over tea for much of the afternoon.

Saturday evening, I made these ramp (or wild leek) stuffed potatoes for dinner.

Saturday night, a strong storm came through our neighborhood and left hail covering our porch.

Sunday morning began with a New England Omelet from Jumbars.

Sunday afternoon, I visited Camp Hidden Falls, a Girl Scout camp in the Pocono Mountains, to see how it might work for our service unit camping trip.

Just before the rain began, I noticed these beautiful moss flowers at the camp.

We ended our weekend with a meal centered around some rainbow trout Kevin caught for us (it was the first weekend of fishing season). I had never prepared trout before, but this dish, topped with ramps and bread crumbs, was delicious!

I had one goal for this weekend: to catch up on sleep! This week was sooo busy, with a viewing, a service unit camping meeting, two co-op meetings, and a tour of a conservation area, plus a full load of projects at work, so I was exhausted.Well, I learned that I’ve crossed that grown-up threshold where it’s impossible to sleep past 8 o’clock in the morning. I did, however, sneak in two power naps, which is totally out of the ordinary for me, so I do feel a bit refreshed, despite what turned out to be a pretty active weekend.

Friday evening, I met a few of my friends for dinner at Horns, then headed to the Banana Factory to see a performance of "A Memory, a Monologue, a Rant and a Prayer." The V-Day performance was heavy, focusing on themes of violence towards women. Here, Karly Ann Griffin fiercely performs "To Stop the Violence Against Women."

Kevin went boating until well after midnight, so after doing some freelance design work, I waited up for him while watching some Netflix and having a beer, with Tober on my lap.

On Saturday morning, I set out with my co-leader to Quakertown for a field trip with the Brownie troop. We visited Last Chance Ranch, an animal rescue. These alpacas were staring each other down. Other animals included turkeys, donkeys, a pot-bellied pig, horses, cats, dogs, and chickens.

I have so many adorable pictures from this trip, but I won't post any on this blog that show the girls' faces. Here, some of the girls pet a donkey.

The girls especially loved this mini-horse, which was about the same height as them! The troop donated $100, some homemade dog treats, and homemade horse treats.

Saturday afternoon was pretty lazy. I took a nap, watched a "Hungry for Change," and worked on a bunch of design jobs. I also made this crustless spinach and smoked turkey quiche.

Sunday morning started off with breakfast from Jumbars- oatmeal with fresh fruit and a grilled berry muffin for me!

Sunday morning was also pretty low-key, with a bunch of work on things for the co-op and a little power nap. For lunch, we picked up a few dollars worth of take out from Prince Palace Dumpling House. I had a Chinese sandwich and a scallion cake. I hadn't even know what a Chinese sandwich was! It was really tasty- Veggies and chicken in a sweet soy sauce on a soft sesame bread.

A little fed up with how lazy the earlier part of the weekend was, we took a bike ride down the canal path towards Freemansburg on Sunday afternoon.

Lots of old storm damage was causing some trash backups in the canal, and algae is already starting to bloom. We saw this turtle hanging out on a log in the midst of it all.

After our bike ride, we drove out to Klein Farms to pick up a little mozzarella. We said hello to my favorite animal there- This afro duck I've nicknamed Thomas Jefferson!

We also became acquainted with the Klein's new mules! This one was so soft!

Finally, we returned home to make some ice cream and have some pea shoot stir-fry (recipe to come soon!). The last part of the weekend was spent doing some more design and watching old episodes of the X-Files.

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I hesitate to say it for fear of a freak late season storm, but I think spring has arrived! Although the questions that accompany the loss of a friend, Matt Steiner, at too young an age, weighed on our minds, we appreciated and enjoyed the days full of warm sunshine and took advantage of the time to have some fun!

Friday night, after stocking up on some household essentials (it was payday!), we picked up some takeout from Horns. I tried "The Colonel," which sandwiches maple & hot sauce coated chicken confit with dark greens in rosemary belgian waffles. Kevin tried a meatloaf sandwich with bleu cheese and mushrooms on challah bread.

Saturday morning, I returned from a morning run to find that our Pure Sprouts all-local bin had arrived! I was so excited to see radishes and pea shoots—signs of spring to come! Soon enough, we'll start our work share at Heritage Farms CSA and be earning our produce while learning a ton!

I revisited making dog treats (the 300 my Brownie troop made went moldy in a week!!!)—This time armed with the advice of Bone Appetit Bakery. After baking them at a low temperature for over an hour, I think they are dry enough they won't get moldy! I'll post the recipe after a while if they stay fresh!

Having rolled out several hundred dog treats, I picked up my friend Amanda and we headed to SteelStacks to visit the winter market and see our friend Michelle perform. Her lovely voice seemed so dramatic in front of the blast furnaces!

With our farmer's market purchases complete, we wandered to downtown Bethlehem to catch the St. Patrick's Day parade. First, though, we stopped into Season's Olive Oil & Vinegar Taproom so I could pick up a bottle of mushroom & sage oil to dress salads with.

Under the incredibly sunny sky, huge crowds came out to see Bethlehem's 2nd Annual St. Patrick's Day Parade. My friend Jaime rode atop the Vegfest float as the garden queen, and one of my high school scouts carried a division banner.

It's always a trip to see the O'Grady Quinlan School of Irish Step Dancing, because I danced with that school for 11 of its earliest years. In those days, we wore sashes with puffy painted Celtic knots on them, plaid skirts, and only started wearing wigs towards the end of my dancing stint. Man, how that school has grown! Hundreds of dancers paraded past, showing off their cuts and points!

Still enjoying the sun too much to call it a day, Kevin and I set out on an afternoon drive, picking up some raw milk at Keepsake Farm, then winding through the roads to Wassergass.

We stopped in this quaint general store for a snack and were greeted by a cheerful owner who seemed to know everything about anyone in the town.

When we arrived home, we sat down for this classic St. Patrick's Day meal of corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, soda bread, prepared by my father. Of course, we paired it with some whiskey!

Sunday morning began like I remember San Francisco mornings—A little cool, foggy, and quiet. We picked up Jumbars breakfast, of course. I had a yogurt parfait and a side of sausage.

Shortly after breakfast, we set out on a 10.4 mile bike ride along the Saucon Rail Trail. (There was a baseball game behind our house, and they tend to be pretty loud, with people traipsing all through our yard and balls hitting our cars, so we try to arrange to leave when they play!) As a relative newbie bike rider, this was the longest I've ever ridden! In Water Street Park, we had this picnic of a leftover Horns sandwich, corned beef & cheddar on soda bread, and couscous salad.

As we were finishing up our picnic, we noticed a man walk by with a large bunch of green onions. After an observant look at our surroundings, we saw wild onions growing everywhere! We foraged a small bunch to bring home.

When we got home, Kevin fired up the grill to make dinner, and I whipped up a batch of pesto using everything green we had in our fridge! I incorporated radish leaves, pea shoots, spinach and wild onions. Now we have several meals' worth in the freezer.

We used the local ingredients we had purchased over the weekend to grill up a great seasonal meal. We had a Keepsake Farm steak, marinaded with whiskey, honey & mushroom sage oil. On the side, we had grilled radishes and golden turnips with wild onions and mashed rutabagas.

Finally, I wound down the weekend by working on my contribution to Moravian College's homage to Judy Chicago's "Dinner Party." My piece will represent Juliette Low, the founder of Girl Scouts, in honor of it's 100 year anniversary. It incorporates a mess kit, trefoil, campfire setup, and a string of pearls tied in a square knot …

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This weekend was supposed to be mostly work with little time to play. BUT, the weather was sooo gorgeous, I couldn’t bear to be inside staring at a computer screen, knowing that the sun was shining, breeze was blowing and spring had sprung outside.

Friday evening we had a last minute visit with one of my sisters over dinner at my parents house. We enjoyed some meatless lasagna, salad, Jumbars dinner rolls, and broccoli. The meal was topped off with Jumbars brownies, topped with natural vanilla bean ice cream, and a dollop of espresso fudge. Mmm.

Saturday morning started with a bit of amusement as Tober was supremely fascinated with this illustration of a sardine. Too cute.

I recently began the Couch to 5k running program, in preparation for the Dirty Girl Mud Run in May, so I went for a run in the brisk morning air on Saturday.

Saturday afternoon was occupied by Bethlehem Food Co-Op business. First, I spent two brain boggling hours with the other designers, trying to finalize and whittle down our numerous logo options. Then, I met with a few other cooperators to discuss a feasibility study at the Wise Bean.

For a hearty and inexpensive meal on Saturday night, I whipped up a batch of red lentil daal (recipe coming soon!).

Sunday, groggy from the daylight savings time change, I headed to a place I rarely go- church. It was Girl Scout Sunday, so the members of our troops volunteered to be ushers and host a coffee hour at the church where we meet as a thank you to the congregation.

The girls did a great job distributing bulletins, reading liturgy, collecting offerings, and providing food for the coffee hour. I prepared a vegan coffee cake to serve.

Sunday afternoon, I couldn't bear to be indoors, so Kevin and I set out on a geocaching expedition to some of the prettiest places in Bethlehem Township. The first cache we found was located on the shore of Green Pond. Tranquil, although it did smell a bit rank since the area is frequently flooded.

Next, we went to Louise Moore Park and had a picnic, having brought some sandwiches from Martellucci's. Signs of spring abounded, and we were happy to see the large community garden.

Next, we followed our geocaching GPS to Monocacy Meadow, a small but pretty park that is a popular fishing location. We found a multicache and took a walk along the railroad tracks.

The last park we visited was Housenick Park on Christian Springs Road, one we had never been to before. It is an absolute gem! This is a relatively new park, still being worked on, and is a fascinating blend of history and nature. It is large and beautiful; 55 acres of rugged terrain, abandoned estate buildings, and the Monocacy Creek.

It was so refreshing to see the tufts of green popping up through the layer of dead brown leaves.

We explored the rugged outlying areas of the park, finding several geocaches.

Another fascinating part of the park is the Archibald Johnston home, abandoned and disintegrating atop a hill. It's a beautiful structure, full of intrigue and faded elegance.

After a bit of research when we came home from the park, we learned that Bethlehem Township has hopes to restore this grand building that was once home to the mayor of Bethlehem/Bethlehem Steel Executive Archibald Johnston.

We found our last cache for the day within this crazy tree on the edge of the park. It will be exciting to see the improvements as the progress of fixing up/restoring this land continues.

Through the reading we did about Housenick Park and Archibald Johnston, we also learned a lot about a current conflict between Central Moravian Church and local environmentalists and township residents. As it turns out, the downtown Bethlehem church inherited a large stretch of equally beautiful land directly bordering Housenick Park. Instead of preserving or conserving the land they were charged with by a Johnston relative upon her death, they have entered into discussions to develop this land into apartments and business properties. After seeing the land and realizing what development would do to the environment (especially the already stressed Monocacy Creek!), the atmosphere and the dwindling open space in the area, I sincerely hope the church acts as responsible stewards, finding someone else to properly care for the tract if they cannot themselves. I cannot adequately explain the conflict or intricacies here, but I encourage you to learn more about this possible poor decision in the works, and let your voice be heard if you want future generations to enjoy the great natural spaces we have in our town. If you’d like to read more about this conflict, click here for a recent article in the Morning Call.

* stepping off my soap box *

I am so glad to have stepped away from what could have been an glum indoor weekend full of chores and tasks to enjoy the great outdoor areas we have in our back yard. Supposedly, next weekend will be similarly nice out, so I’ll have to make sure to work hard this week to play hard next weekend!

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Surprise, surprise … This weekend was very food-centric. We splurged and ate out/got takeout a few times for two reasons: One, we find out we are actually getting a tax return this year! After owing over a thousand dollars the past couple of years due to my freelance design work, this was certainly cause for celebration. Two, this week begins the start of my training for the Dirty Girl Mud Run. So, while I won’t be subjecting myself to any crazy diet, I’ll be eating out less, cutting sweets and carrying out a running and strength training plan to get ready for this exciting run!

Friday night, we treated ourselves to dinner at Molto Pazzo, a relatively new restaurant in downtown Bethlehem. I enjoyed this Pasta Raphael with broccoli rabe, sausage, sundried tomatoes and garlic over whole wheat rotini. They will sub whole wheat or gluten free for any of the pastas! Kevin loved his chicken saltimbocca. Great atmosphere, great food!

For dessert, we brought home some Nuts About Ice Cream sundaes. I had ginger ice cream with hot fudge, and Kevin had his classic chocolate peanut butter ice cream with strawberries.

After a Saturday morning full of errands, I went with my friend Cindy for brunch (complete with mimosas!) at Jumbars to celebrate her birthday. She tried the great Jumbars SOS, and I had a New England omelette.

After brunch, Cindy & I headed off to SteelStacks to stock up on fresh ingredients from the farmers market. I forgot to bring my cookbooks to participate in the cookbook swap, but I did bring home these tasty veggies and a loaf of potato bread!

Saturday afternoon was full of more errands, then we met both of our families for dinner at the East Hills Moravian Church Italian Buffet. I forgot to take pictures, but the food was great and the proceeds went to provide camp scholarships for kids. Good stuff!

Sunday morning, we left the coziness of bed to go to Top Diner for brunch. Packed as usual, we enjoyed a great diner breakfast for pennies! I have enough country scrambled eggs to last for two more meals.

Much of Sunday afternoon was spent tackling the messiest part of our house- my desk. I had been overwhelmed by the sheer amount of papers that accumulated on top of it, but, with a joint effort, we plowed through the work and my desk is wonderfully productive now! I spent the evening catching up on some design work, enjoying the clear surface.

Unfortunately, Kevin's allergy to our rabbit, Rabbicchio, got the best of him today, and he ended up wheezing his way out of the office to get his inhaler. After a tough conversation, we decided it would be best for his health to find Rabbicchio another home. Fortunately, an acquaintance from Girl Scouts who already owns two rabbits quickly volunteered to adopt her. It will be a bittersweet goodbye tomorrow, but Kevin's got to breathe!

Having completed all of the desk cleaning work and with Kevin breathing deeply again, we decided to try the Prince Palace Dumpling House, another relatively new restaurant, for dinner. WOW. Amazing food. Located in a set back lot on 512, this place looks rather sketchy. However, it serves incredibly authentic Chinese food at inexpensive prices. We sampled several varieties of dumplings and steamed buns (including Chinese soup buns (called juicy buns here!)). We couldn't believe how huge the portions were (lunch for the week!). We got all of this food for $30.

Finally, with a busy week ahead, we got a jump start on cooking dinner for the upcoming days by putting together a turkey and veggie pot pie, which baked while I planned my Girl Scout meeting.

While I worked on the pie, Kevin cooked up a pot of vegan potato leek soup. Now, we're ready to take on a hectic week with some homecooked meals ready for us!